Page 86 - JSOM Fall 2024

An Ongoing Series

Social Determinant of Unconventional Resilience

Tactical Engagement in Medical-Martial Creativity

Erika “Ann” Jeschke, PhD *; Jennifer Armon, MSN ; Jared Wyma-Bradley, MD ;
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Jay Baker, MDiv ; John Dorsch, DO ; Sarah Lynn Huffman, PhD 6
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ABSTRACT
Building on our strategic framework and operational model, values, norms, and attitudes coalesce into five social determi-
we will discuss findings from our ethnographic study entitled, nants that orient SOF medics’ practical performance in the
“The Impact of Catastrophic Injury Exposure on Resilience in SOF performance space. This sixth paper will use qualitative
Special Operations Surgical Teams (SOST).” Our goal is to es- quotes to analytically exegete the social determinant of medi-
tablish that medical-martial creativity supports Special Opera- cal-martial creativity. To achieve our goals, we will: 1) define
tion Forces (SOF) medics’ ability to fluidly modulate pressure the social determinant of medical-martial creativity and pro-
amid real-time military medical decision-making in austere vide a brief theoretical background on creativity; 2) thematize
environments. We will use qualitative quotes to explore how various ways in which medical-martial creativity is optimized
SOST medics express medical-martial creativity in support of or degraded; and 3) relate tactical engagement with medi-
unconventional resilience. We continue to highlight tactical cal-martial creativity to our metaphor of bag sets. We conclude
engagement by using bag sets as a metaphor for understand- by gesturing to how medical-martial creativity enables SOF
ing the practical performance of this social determinant. To medic ingenuity, which allows for freedom of maneuver amid
achieve our goals, we will: 1) define the social determinant of complex real-time decision-making in support of SOF mission
medical-martial creativity and provide a brief background on success.
creativity; 2) thematize various ways in which medical- martial
creativity is optimized or degraded; and 3) relate tactical en- Findings are taken from the study entitled, “The Impact of
gagement with medical-martial creativity to our metaphor of Catastrophic Injury Exposure on Resilience in Special Oper-
bag sets. We conclude by gesturing to how medical-martial ations Surgical Teams.” The Air Force Research Laboratory’s
creativity enables SOF medics’ ingenuity, which allows them Institutional Review Board approved the study as an exempt
to freely maneuver complex real-time decision-making to sup- protocol. To capture intricacies within the cultural ethos of
port SOF mission success. SOST, data were collected through individual, open-ended
interviews with four participants from each clinical specialty
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Keywords: unconventional resilience; social determinant; represented in SOST. Additionally, focus groups and field
medical-martial creativity; practical performance; SOF medic observations were performed at both SOST detachments to
capture team and organizational dynamics. All identifying
names, genders, locations, medical specialties, and military
Introduction ranks were removed. To further protect privacy and maintain
confidentiality, themes described herein do not reflect individ-
In this paper, we build on our strategic framework and oper- ual commentaries. All quotes are constructed of various SOST
ational model to explain tactical engagement with the social medic narratives that code under the theme discussed. As such,
determinant of medical-martial creativity as a central element quotes are an aggregate analysis, which not only draws a holis-
in our new characterization of unconventional resilience. tic blueprint of the entire data set but also represents the co-ed
Analysis of findings from our ethnographic study entitled, composition of the organization. 1
“The Impact of Catastrophic Injury Exposure on Resilience
in Special Operations Surgical Teams (SOST),” established cul- While data in this and subsequent papers focus specifically on
ture as an integral aspect of Special Operations Forces (SOF) SOST, these findings are relevant to all SOF medics because
medics’ practical performance. Specifically, social symbols, the study focused on the phenomenon of catastrophic injury

*Correspondence to stlamazonia@gmail.com
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1 Dr. Erika “Ann” Jeschke is affiliated with the SURVICE Engineering, Becamp, MD. MAJ Jennifer Armon, Air Force Institute of Technology,
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Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. Jared Wyma-Bradley is the Director of Spiritual Care at Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, Washington, DC.
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4 Col Jay Baker is affiliated with the U.S. Army Corps, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. Col (Ret) John Dorsch is affiliated with the University of
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North Carolina Southeastern, Lumberton, NC. Lt Col Sarah L. Huffman is affiliated with the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine-Air
Force Research Lab, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.
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